Flashpoint Lois and Kal-el Meet Again.

[superfangirl1]

Flashpoint: Project Superman #3

Subject Zero returns to exact his revenge on General Lane by taking out Lois and his "adopted" son, Kal-El.

Comments

[fifthie]

I was actually thinking to myself this is maybe a little bit good, then BOOSH, totally gratuitous fridging.

[biznizzonpeyote]

Oh, yes. It reminds me of Homer's Iliad when Patroclus was killed solely to motivate Achilles into fighting the Trojan War. Classic fridging. /end sarcasm.

[fifthie]

Ionic columns are a prominent design feature of the Parthenon, therefore no reasonable person could possibly describe my local Cheesecake Factory as tacky.

[icon_uk]

That was really rather brilliant! Kudos.

[fifthie]

Thanks, I was kind of proud of that one

[arysteia]

There is no sarcasm required; Patroklos dying to motivate Achilles' return to battle *is* a textbook example of fridging. Assuming the generalised definition of fridging is "dying not as the culmination of their own story arc, but to provide impetus for someone else's". The difference is, that it was done well. Superbly well even, following Patroklos' aristeia, and with huge and full emotional weight, and without the hero then going to live a life of continued adventure.

Given this makes the trope two thousand years old (and probably older, given Gilgamesh and Enkidu might count too in some versions) that only supports the argument that it's tired and overdone by now. Can it still be done well? Sometimes. But too often it's a lazy shortcut. And the Women in Refrigerators complaint is a specific critique of the disproportionate use of the 'weaker' sex in the motivating role.